PORTLAND, Ore. – John Dodson’s accuracy in the striking game was on point. But his strategy of making sure he wasn’t around when John Lineker threw back at him may have backfired.

Lineker (29-7 MMA, 10-2 UFC) took a split decision from Dodson (18-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC) with a pair of 48-47 scores, and Dodson likely now will wonder if his strategy of circling outside to stay away from Lineker’s power was interpreted the wrong way by two of the judges.

The catchweight bout (Lineker missed weight for the bantamweight limit) was the main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 96 event at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

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Dodson hurried to the center of the cage hoping to set the pace early, but Lineker landed a right hand to the body. Dodson worked a leg kick, but Lineker followed with one of his own. Dodson worked the outside and countered nicely with kicks any time the Brazilian tried to get inside. Lineker landed with a right hand with two minutes left, then ducked away from Dodson as he came forward. Dodson laughed and smiled at his opponent, who smiled back, but then drilled Dodson drilled a kick to the head that somehow Lineker took and walked through. With 25 seconds left, Dodson got a push takedown, but let Lineker right back up.

Lineker continued to push forward in the second, but Dodson’s quickness usually had him out of the way. Two minutes in, Lineker landed a solid knee to the body, but Dodson answered with a right hand. Tired of Dodson circling and interpreting it as running, Lineker stopped and put his hands on his hips, waiting for Dodson to engage. Then he mocked that he was running away. The fighters were warned by referee John McCarthy to play nice in the sandbox, so to speak, but on the restart, Dodson landed a knee too low and Lineker took a break to recover. When they got going again, they started slinging leather. Lineker landed a good left hand, then took a few from Dodson to give a few back.

Ninety seconds into the third, rock’em-sock’em robots took over to the crowd’s delight. But shortly after, Dodson was back on the outisde. But with 90 seconds left, Lineker stunned Dodson with a right hand. Dodson was able to stay on his feet, but it was pretty clear Lineker had him hurt briefly. Thirty seconds later, Dodson had recovered and landed another head kick that Lineker walked through. Then he continued to push forward and throw wild punches and gestured to the crowd to hope to get Dodson to stay in the pocket and engage.

Two minutes into the fourth, Lineker swung over the top with a big right hand, but Dodson perfectly ducked under and landed a breif takedown. But Lineker was quickly back up and the fight was back to what it had been the first 17 minutes – Dodson doing his best to stay away from Lineker’s power. But when the clock hit two minutes, Lineker finally started to make some headway against Dodson. He caught up to him and landed several combinations, even as Dodson fired back. Dodson may have been hurt, but he stayed in the fight and worked another kick to the head.

The fighters hugged before the start of the fifth to congratulate each other on a “Fight of the Night”-worthy first 20 minutes. Dodson landed a Superman punch a minute in, then found himself in familiar territory moving away from Lineker’s punches. Lineker was wearing the damage on his face from punches and likely the head kicks from Dodson. With 1:50 left, the two started drilling each other with punches and knees along the fence, but after Dodson got back out he landed two left hands – the second of which popped Lineker’s head back. Lineker looked more run down, and with a minute left he got a takedown and jumped on Lineker’s back. Lineker walked him to the fence, not concerned with a takedown attempt. Dodson hopped off with 30 seconds left, then landed another head kick down the stretch.

But when the scores were read, it was Lineker who had a pair of 48-47s to one dissenting 48-47 for Dodson.

Lineker won for the sixth straight time and fourth straight time since his return to bantamweight. Dodson is back to the loss column after a 37-second TKO win in April in his return to the division.

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